Every now and then I get to thinking about the ways and means of the music business these days and I drew the conclusion that doing it yourself is as valid a means of progressing your musical career as waiting for the money men to come knocking with a three album deal. Saint Sappho - Zoe Young and Tammy Dyson – duly do it themselves on their debut album “Between The Lines”.
If you are going to drown in your musical influences then at least swim in a sea that has some sonic worth and Saint Sappho seem to have selected the time when Britpop and indie collided. Whilst synths often feature as atmospheric components, guitars are never far from the forefront which is, as you might expect, no surprise given this duo’s respectful and reverential exorcism of the sounds of past days. That said, their words are more of the here and now yet, rather cleverly I thought, they successfully gain acceptance of what they might say by the simple expedient of sounding like sounds familiar to many ears. This is not really a criticism as many before them have wallowed in the sea of respectful musical motivations and Saint Sappho, to their credit, always manage to stamp a decent degree of individuality on all that they do.
However, looking at the lyrics closely, things are rather more disassociated with their sometimes cinematic approach making their words less an opportunity for poetry than an occasionally awkward attempt at being the laconic voice of their particular today. Awkwardness is not, however, the defining factor for Saint Sappho as these thirteen songs, taken as a whole, fit together well and are constructed with a most respectable degree of technical diligence.
“Between the Lines” is an assured debut album. Of that there is no doubt. Saint Sappho demonstrate that they can make fresh what once was, and probably still is, the stuff of sentimental reminiscences. Doing it yourself would indeed seem to be the way to go.
Available from Bandcamp on vinyl and CD and, if it is your wont, from all the usual digital places.